Twin demons of sorrow
by Ashrial
Summary: Oneshot. At the end of the road, after years of bloodshed and tears and death, Naruto and Sasuke meet one last, final time. There is nothing left for either of them except for the hate that has fueled them to this point.


Summary: Oneshot. At the end of the road, after years of bloodshed and tears and death, Naruto and Sasuke meet one last, final time. There is nothing left for either of them except for the hate that has fueled them to this point.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Not in any way, shape, or form.

--

Standing on the bank of the river, spray from the waterfall speckling his face, Naruto sizes up the man he has come here to kill.

The years have not been kind to Sasuke. The face girls once lusted over is now thin and hallowed, a diagonal scar splitting through his left eye. Ragged clothes hang limp on his frame, countless scars from countless battles crisscross his body, a map to those that can read it. The one thing that hasn't changed since the last time they met here, so many years ago, is his eyes. Blood drenched eyes, weapons honed for generations for one lethal purpose. They regard Naruto now with the same intensity he regards them with, each trying to pry any secrets from the other, any sign of weakness that will aid them in the coming struggle. It was nice to know some things never changed.

It's a long moment before either of them speaks. It has been such a long time, and they are both out of practice. Naruto does eventually break the silence though, the harsh rasp his voice has become since his windpipe was slit and healed carrying over the steady pounding of the waterfall. "I heard you killed him in our old village, in the wreck of your house."

Sasuke's voice has also changed with time, the cocky, arrogant tone that once defined it now little more than a hollow echo. "In the same room where my father and mother were cut down."

"Poetic justice, huh? Classy." Naruto knows he shouldn't take his eyes off an opponent -one of the first lessons from the now gutted Konoha academy- but he does anyway, his gaze roaming across the sky above them. Let Sasuke try and attack. It'd speed things up. "Remember that first time with Kakashi, where we each had to answer that retarded question thing about what our dreams for the future were?" He pauses, wondering if Sasuke will say anything, if he even remembers. Sometimes he can barely remember himself. "At least one of us achieved our dream."

Sasuke doesn't attack, doesn't even move, staying as motionless as the statues that tower high above them. "Two of us. You made Hokage before the end."

Naruto let's a laugh escape him, a harsh bark. He can no longer tell if it is born of bitterness or amusement. Probably more than a little of both. "If you can call it that. Hokage of a grand total of twenty shinobi. I didn't do too well either, Shika made a better Hokage." Shikamaru had pulled their collective asses out of the fire more times than Naruto cared to count. Only after the fall of Konoha had Shikamaru's full strategic genius been realized, his tactics and ploys allowing the remaining leaf nin to fight and survive against the combined might of the many forces arrayed against them. But it had proven too little, too late.

"Word has it that you also got rid of your passenger."

"Yeah. Gave him the slip back by the battle of Broken leaves." Naruto's stomach twinges at the memory, of having a demon made of chakra ripped forcibly from it, leaving little more than a mass of burn tissue and worm like scars in its wake. And that was before he'd had to fight the damn fox. "It took me a while to get the hang of it, but he wasn't really that tough after all. Maybe he was weakened from snoozing inside me all those years. Dunno. Your bro was no slouch either. How'd you do it?"

"One of us was arrogant. The other wasn't. In the end that's all it took."

Silence falls, both spent from their short exchange. This is more than he's talked in last two months combined. Idly, he toys with the idea of attacking Sasuke now, ending this sad little display of tired interest. He discards it. It's been over ten years since they last met here. They still have a lot of catching up to do.

Sasuke's voice is casual when he speaks again, too casual. Naruto takes a twisted pride in the fact that he can still tell when Sasuke's trying to lie. "How did she die?"

Naruto doesn't bother to ask him who: there had ever only been one her for either of them. "Kunai through the throat. It was after we stopped pretending like there was any Konoha anymore. Just the two of us." He can still feel the blood spouting from her throat; red and warm and sticky, gushing through his fingers like they weren't even there, a steady throb that tore her away from him with every breath. "You've been to see her grave." It isn't a question because if he thought for even a second that Sasuke hadn't, he would charge him right now and pummel him into the ground until his head was little more than crushed melon, red insides splattered against the ground.

There is no feigned casualness in Sasuke's voice this time, only the simple snap of a man insulted. "Of course."

"Good." Anger seeps into his voice, an anger that he'd thought he'd let go of long ago, lost in the trail of tears and blood that led him to this point. "She loved you, you know. She would've done anything for you."

"A schoolgirl crush."

"That's your excuse? 'It was a crush, so it's okay that I betrayed her and let her die' "

"I never said it was an excuse."

Naruto is tempted to laugh. He doesn't. This shouldn't be funny. "So what _is_ your excuse? What the hell can excuse what you did? You betrayed us, your teammates, your village. If you got an excuse, now's the time to tell it."

Sasuke finally moves; a slow pan of his head that switches his gaze away from Naruto and the twin monoliths on their left, out across the lake. Wind blows the dark strands of his hair across his face, obscuring his blood drenched eyes. "I have no excuses, only a reason: Vengeance. You can talk until your voice is hoarse, but it's pointless. I made my choice. I will not dishonor her memory and all the others who have died by regretting it."

Reaching into the holster at his side, Naruto pulls out a tattered strip of blue cloth, the rectangle of metal attached to it glinting dully in the light. He twists his hand until the inscribed leaf in its center faces him. The line cutting the leaf in half is as prominent as it ever was, no amount of buffing or cleaning able to fix it. He extends his arm and holds it out to Sasuke one last time. "Was it worth it?"

Far across the water Sasuke's hand drops to the sword sheathed on his lower back. "Does it matter?"

Naruto shrugs, a shrug that encompasses all the years of pain and death, all the comrades that have died, all the blood on his hands, and the very last bit of the kid he used to be. He lets it all fall to either side of him. The cloth is as soft as a whisper as Naruto lets it slip through his fingers. It land in the water and bobs up for a moment before going under, swept away by the current. His foot shifts, and he springs forward, air whistling around the kunai clutched in either hand. Sasuke is just as swift. They meet in one final clash, blood painting the sky crimson.

"I guess it doesn't."

--

AN: edited5/8/08 for minor problems.


End file.
